Apparatus and method for controlling communication module

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9699732-B2
Application number	US-201514692193-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 21, 2015
Priority date	Apr 29, 2014
Publication date	Jul 4, 2017
Grant date	Jul 4, 2017

Abstract

A method of controlling a communication module by an electronic device is provided. The method includes receiving, by a second processor, a specified signal from a first processor informing that the first processor enters an inactive state from an active state, by a second processor, and controlling, by the second processor, a Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) communication function in response to the specified signal. According to an operation state of the first processor, that is, an inactive state such as a sleep state or a power off state, or an active state, a subject which processes WiFi communication is changed. Accordingly, it is possible to efficiently and continuously monitor WiFi communication data and process the WiFi communication data on an accurate period.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device comprising:
a wireless fidelity (WiFi) interface configured to perform WiFi communication;
a first processor configured to control the WiFi interface; and
a second processor configured to:
receive a specified signal informing that the first processor enters an inactive state from an active state from the first processor, and
control the WiFi interface in response to the specified signal.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first processor and the second processor correspond to an application processor and a communication processor, respectively.

3. The electronic device of claim 1 ,
wherein, when the first processor enters the inactive state from the active state, the first processor is further configured to transmit a specified signal informing the second processor of the entrance to the active state, and
wherein the second processor is further configured to release a control of the WiFi interface in response to the signal informing of the entrance to the active state.

4. The electronic device of claim 1 ,
wherein the second processor is further configured to control the WiFi interface according to a communication period set to the second processor, and
wherein the set communication period includes a discontinuous reception (DRX) period defined in a long term evolution (LTE) standard.

5. The electronic device of claim 1 ,
wherein, when the first processor enters the inactive state, the first processor is further configured to transmit information on one or more access points related to the WiFi interface to the second processor, and
wherein the second processor is further configured to perform a scan or connection through the WiFi interface based on the information.

6. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the inactive state includes one of a sleep state of the electronic device, a sleep state of the first processor, or a power off state of the first processor.

7. The electronic device of claim 1 ,
wherein the first processor is further configured to enter an inactive state when a voice over long term evolution (VoLTE) call is connected through the second processor, and
wherein the second processor is further configured to:
perform a scan through the WiFi interface in response to the specified signal, and
hand over the VoLTE call to a WiFi call based on a result of the scan when quality of a WiFi connection state through the WiFi interface meets a specified quality condition.

8. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the WiFi interface is further configured to perform WiFi authentication and association based on universal subscriber Identity module (USIM) information from the second processor.

9. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein, when a request for determining whether a WiFi scan is required is received from the WiFi interface, the second processor is further configured to:
determine whether a scan limit condition is met, and
provide stored scan information when it is determined the scan limit condition is met.

10. The electronic device of claim 9 , wherein the scan limit condition includes at least one of a case where a user goes beyond a point of interest (POI) registered by the user who desires to use WiFi, a case where a user is located in a limited area configured by the user to not use WiFi, a case where there is no mobility, when a user moves at a predetermined speed or faster, or a case where a user is located on a frequently used path.

11. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein, when a WiFi scan request is generated, the first processor is further configured to:
determine whether the scan needs to be limited based on position information of the electronic device, and
output a scan result based on stored scan information when it is determined the scan needs to be limited.

12. A method of controlling a communication interface by an electronic device, the method comprising:
receiving, by a second processor, a specified signal from a first processor informing that the first processor enters an inactive state from an active state; and
controlling, by the second processor, a wireless fidelity (WiFi) communication function in response to the specified signal.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
receiving a signal from the first processor informing that the first processor enters the active state from the inactive state; and
releasing the control of the WiFi communication function in response to the signal informing that the entrance to the active state.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising controlling, by the first processor, the WiFi communication function according to a communication period set by the second processor,
wherein the set communication period includes a discontinuous reception (DRX) period defined in a long term evolution (LTE) standard.

15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising receiving information on one or more access points from the first processor related to the WiFi function after receiving the specified signal.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising controlling, by the second processor, to perform a scan or connection through a WiFi interface based on the information.

17. The method of claim 12 , further comprising performing, by a WiFi interface, WiFi authentication and association based on universal subscriber identity module (USIM) information from the second processor.

18. The method of claim 12 , wherein the inactive state includes one of a sleep state of the electronic device, a sleep state of the first processor, or a power off state of the first processor.

19. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
when a voice over long term evolution (VoLTE) call is connected, controlling, by the second processor, to perform a scan through a WiFi interface in response to the specified signal; and
controlling to hand over the VoLTE call to a WiFi call based on a result of the scan when quality of a WiFi connection state meets a specified quality condition.

20. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
when a request for determining whether a WiFi scan execution is required is received from the WiFi interface, determining whether a scan limit condition is met; and
when it is determined the scan limit condition is met, providing stored scan information.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the scan limit condition includes at least one of a case where a user goes beyond a point of interest (POI) registered by the user who desires to use WiFi, a case where a user is located in a limited area configured by the user to not use WiFi, a case where there is no mobility, when a user moves at a predetermined speed or faster, or a case where a user is located on a frequently used path.

22. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
when a WiFi scan request is generated, determining whether the scan needs to be limited based on position information of the electronic device; and
outputting a scan result based on stored scan information when it is determined the scan is needed to be limited.

23. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform a method of controlling a communication interface by an electronic device, the method comprising:
receiving, by a second processor, a specified signal from a first processor informing that the first processor enters an inactive state from an active state;

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kim Tae-Yoon
• Lim Chae-Man
• Lee Hyoung-Joo

Classifications

• H04W76/048

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W52/0222 Primary

  in packet switched networks · CPC title

• H04W52/028

  switching on or off only a part of the equipment circuit blocks · CPC title

• H04W76/28

  Discontinuous transmission [DTX]; Discontinuous reception [DRX] · CPC title

• Y02D30/70

  in wireless communication networks · CPC title